Dry Creek Models produces kits and 3d printed models for model railroad hobbyists. We focus on rare prototypes that are difficult to do with injection molding, and that appeal to a small but passionate community. We focus on California, the Southern Pacific, and the West.

We make your freight car bodies using a 3d printer. This approach allows us to make freight cars that couldn't be built in one piece with any other method. We use the Form One Plus resin printer from Form Labs. The printer uses a laser to harden successive layers of a photosensitive acrylic resin. The cured resin behaves a bit like acrylic sheet ("Plexiglas") - able to hold fine detail and be handled during model railroad operations.

We made a video to show some of the cars we have built:

This video shows the printer in action. You can see the laser first hardening a layer, then tracing around the edges quickly. After each layer is hardened, the printer raises the part being built a bit, then draws the next layer.